Monday, October 20, 2008

Oct 20th, race results

Fifty miles in 11:15 hours. Super tough course because of the hard ground, dust created by wanta be hunters and a very driven hot sun. My body was in really good shape but the hard ground and driven sun did their damage. The course and race was a blast. I loved every minute of pain and joy. That simple.

My fifty mile time is very close to the top group of runners. This is a surprise to me given their long history of running and I think speaks strong of the long training runs and good planning. The top group of runners can be stated as super tough, very professional and very focused around running. Top knotch folks.

I started the race at my normal 9 to 10 minute mile pace. My goal was to run 5 miles an hour which is my normal training speed for long runs (25 to 30 mile runs). I felt very good around mile 25 and only started to notice the hot sun around mile 30. At mile 30 my soul started to scream at the dust and the hot sun.

Some have noted that i started the run too fast. I am not sure and will spend some time thinking over this possiblity.

The straw that broke my back was the bodies in ability to process liquids. Most if not all of my training was in much cooler conditions, early morning or late at night. Seldom did i do runs during the middle of the day while the sun was at its best. I did my normal thing by taking scaps (1 per half hour) and drinking a sports drink mixed with carbo pro. At mile 30 the body would no longer process the fluids. Not sure why. It just stopped. Given it was still very hot I had a problem. In the future ice, and other solutions including wearing better clothing will help.

The crazy thing is once the sun went down I had a new kick of energy. Given I had trained to run in the dark over the summer the body was ready for a new run, however i was not. At this point in the process the body started to function a bit better but the sun, lack of water and other conditions had eaten the soul alive.

If I had known that I was doing well in relationship to the other runners my soul would have come alive and there is a good chance i would have run the entire 100 miles. However, for reasons beyond me I thought i was doing poorly.

The body recovery was very good except for the right ankle. The ankle does not hurt and was not swollen after the race. I am not sure what is wrong with the right ankle but my guess is it will get much better in the next day or two.

As for the course and the race wow.. what a blast. I really had a good time. I felt so connected to the other runners even though I had never met them or raced with them. This means a bunch to me.

Future: Easy, keep running. Do at least 2 or 3 50 mile races before october when I run the pony express 100 again.

Closing thought: My friends who know me remind me that three years ago i was running 10 miles a week at best. They remind me I weighted 200 pounds and fat was all over the place. Today I am at 165 and fat is hard to find. I can run at will 20 miles and have a driven desire to train, feel the energy of the outdoors and have tons of fun.. cant beat that.